All We Are
by MoonlightGardenias
Summary: It wasn't goodbye. Not really. BB post-s5 finale


**Author's Note: **This has sort of been eating at my muse these past few days. Even though I know it probably won't happen this way, this is my happy place for them. I realize how many of these post-finale fics are already out in the fanficverse, but I can only hope this is different enough to seem unique.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bones. I just like to take the characters out to play.

* * *

Sometimes, they talk. Due to time constraints and responsibilities it's only for short times-fifteen, sometimes twenty minutes in the middle or at the end of a busy day-but it's what keeps them together. Their calls are sometimes cut short by a moment of poor reception but it's always made up for by a quick e-mail or acknowledgement later.

There are times when she'll be resting in her room replying to an e-mail from Cam (or Sweets, who seems concerned for both her and Daisy despite how the two still haven't talked, but Brennan knows that's not her business), or perhaps looking at pictures from Hodgins and Angela's trip when a request for a video chat will pop up.

Booth will be there ready to talk. He'll tell her of something that happened while he was training new recruits or she'll smile as she details how she uncovered something truly extraordinary that morning. Sometimes they'll understand each other and their technical speak but in the times they don't, they're patient. They'll explain and pull each other through because it's them and it's what they do.

It's in moments with him that Brennan begins to realize what Booth meant when he used to say things about people becoming one (though she still argues against that as a scientific possibility), and when he says things like _what goes on between us is ours_. She understands how he was consciously trying to reach through to her, trying to make her see what he's apparently known all along.

Even if she doesn't know it yet or can't quite phrase it the right way, Brennan knows. She knows that she wants to be the one, even if she doesn't have the ability to see that far into the future, who will love him in thirty, forty, or fifty years. She knows that she loves him and even tells him so once. He responds by grinning like an idiot and telling her how long he's waited to hear her say that. There's a certain sadness about it of course, because of the physical distance between them measured not just by miles or minutes, but by entire countries.

After that conversation-the one in which he's able to see the look on her face as she tells him what he's wanted to know all along-they no longer end their talks or e-mails with "goodbye"; sometimes it's "Love" or "I miss you", but they always end with a promise. "Talk to you soon."

* * *

Time passes. Hurricanes and floods and fires. Leaves turn golden before falling to the ground, snow dusting the branches of trees instead. The earth takes a trip around the sun. Two people fall in love.

* * *

They meet at the coffee cart a year later, to the day (actually, what they don't know is that it's one year, three hours, fourteen minutes and twenty-three seconds, but that distinction doesn't matter).

Brennan's arms pull him close, her heart full of ache and love and _understanding_. She was once afraid of change but as he pulls back to look into her eyes she knows this one she could definitely get used to.

Booth smiles so wide it almost hurts but any pain goes unnoticed. The woman he loves and has waited for is in his arms and that's all he cares about. He moves a tendril of hair away from her face before tracing a line down her chin. "Your hair's shorter. I like it."

People pass by. To anyone who looks in on them, they might appear like a couple who've been in love for years and in some respects they have. It just took them a year apart to realize that.

He has a few more lines around his eyes and there's a little more gray mixed in with brown in his hair, but none of that matters. The warm weight of his hand against her back and the whisper of his breath against her cheek is proof that he's there and that this is real. She steps closer to him, closing the gap by pressing her lips to his. _Softly_, like it was something they'd do every day for the rest of their lives.

"I missed you." Brennan sighs, pressing her forehead to his. They have to leave soon; Cam has taken it upon herself to organize some sort of reunion dinner at Founding Fathers. There will be more hugs and kisses and tears of joy. She feels a little uneasy at the prospect of it all but as she feels his hand reach for hers, linking them together, she knows she isn't alone.

"I missed you too, Bones." Booth pulls her hand up to his lips, planting a kiss on her fingertips. Nothing he's ever imagined could be compared to this moment. "Come on; we should probably get going."

They walk away together; two people joined together by so many things. A year apart had seemed like such a scary thing at first, but now they know it was what they needed. He pulls her close, kissing her cheek as she wraps her arms around his waist. There is still so much to talk about and sort through, but they both know they'll meet those issues whenever they arise. _Together_ .


End file.
